I have been in a "Lone Ranger" mood for a while now and have been meaning to read the Dynamite series for some time. John Cassaday provided the cover art, and with his recent passing, this seems like the perfect opportunity to pay him tribute by spotlighting it. The series is written by Brett Matthews, with art by Sergio Carriello. Carriello's style has a very "Kubert" look to it, not necessarily Joe, but certainly Andy or Adam. The story is set 1869, with flashbacks to 1856, 1860 and 1868. In the first issue, six Texas Rangers trail a small-time crook named Collins into an ambush. That's a change; in the original legend, the Rangers were trailing the Butch Cavendish gang and Collins was acting as their guide. Beyond that, the story plays out pretty much as one would expect.
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THE LONE RANGER & TONTO:
During the run of volume one, Dynamite also released a four-issue limited series of done-in-one stories co-written by regular Lone Ranger writer Brett Matthews and illustrated by four different artists. The covers are by John Cassaday, so this series still fits this discussion. In the first issue, the Lone Ranger and Tonto set out to help a young boy whose parents were killed in a massacre, but all is not as it seems.
ISSUE #2:
Monsters. It ends up being hallucinations brought on by mercury poisoning, but monsters have no place in the Lone Ranger.
ISSUE #3:
The circus is in town.
ISSUE #4:
A newspaper man searches for the facts behind the legend of the Lone Ranger.
I didn't much care for this limited series; too far removed from expectations. (Nice covers, though.) The last story is the only one really worth reading.
THE LONE RANGER (v2) #1-6 - "Hard Country":
Dynamite's Lone Ranger volume two is written by Ande Parks and drawn by Esteve Polls with covers by Francesco Francavilla. The cover of the first collection is by Alex Ross.
Okay, I'm back. I enjoyed Brett Matthews' volume one very much, but I didn't like The Lone Ranger and Tonto, in which Matthews only plotted, nearly as much, and I think I was reluctant to begin volume two because I was trepidatious about what a Matthews-less volume might be like. I needn't have worried, however; if anything, I like Ande Parks' stories more than even Brett Matthews'. His first issue is a done-in-one told from multiple points of view. Parks is an excellent researcher, and provides a page-by-page analysis of the first issue in the tpb. Suffice it to say that the title of the collection conveys the theme: that the Old West was a brutal landscape in which life was often cheap (but that a few good men could make a real difference).
"Gun" is about Clay Woodson, an aging marshall who is tired of killing. After two "done-in-ones" Parks follows up with a four-parter, "Hanging," which brings the Lone Ranger and Tonto into conflict with a religious zealot who controls the town of Utopia, the climax of which is a thrilling fistfight on a gallows platform as a herd of cattle stampede through town. Tonto plays a prominent role, and the story is interspersed with flashbacks. Volume two provides a good jumping on point (that's volume two of the comic book series, but volume five of the tpb collections).
ISSUES #7-12 - "Native Ground":
Tonto was seriously wounded at the end of "Hard Country" which leads directly into "Native Ground." the narrative alternates back and forth between the Lone Ranger trying to get help from him from the Ute and Tonto's "origin" story from three years earlier. Essentially, Tonto's village was wiped out by a regiment of renegade soldiers and his wife and son were killed. In the present, Mormon settlers have kidnapped the Ute healer who was herself kidnapped from the Mormons 20 year earlier when she was a little girl. Strong themes of friendship and duty and family.
ISSUES #13-18 - "Back East":
Like "Native Ground," "Back east" begins with two standalones followed by a four-parter. "Scorched Earth" begins in the present day at an antiques road show during which a Chinese woman is having a silver bullet appraised. The main story deals with the Lone Ranger and Tonto busting up a Chinese prostitute ring in 1870. In "Standoff," Tonto encounters the one man (boy, realy) he let live of those who massacred his village three years ago (in the previous volume) and illustrates how they both have changed since then. The main story take the Lione Ranger and tonto "Back East" in search of Winston Marle, the Federal agent theywere working with who betrayed them in "Hard Country." Their trek takes them first to Kansas City, then down the Missouri on a riverboat, then to Chicago. But the Lone Ranger & Tonto are used to the wild and wooly West. Are they equipped to handle the back rooms and hidden agendas of the "civilized" world?
ISSUES #19-25 - "The Long Road Home":
The final tpb is the series collecting volume two contains five "done-in-ones": "Scout" presents the "origin" of Tonto's horse; in "The Forgotten Coward of Abilene," the Masked Man avenges the cold-blooded murder of Marshall Tom "Bear River" Smith and tries to redeem the reputation of the marshall's deputy;tThe Lone Ranger an Tonto rescue a stranded wagon during a Colorado storm in "Blizzard"; "Rainmaker" tells the story of an elderly Indian woman they saved from a lynch mob during a seaon of drought; in "The Pass" they pursue a high-strung outlaw after a botched bank heist; in "Yellow Boy" they foil a train robbery by a war-obsessed Chiricahua (the title refers to a type of Winchester rifle); and finally "Legend" tells the story of the Lone ranger and Tonto's attemt to avert starvation of an Arapaho tribe after pleasure-seekers hunt their only food source--the American Buffalo--to near extinction.
Multiple thematically linked flashbacks at key moments remind me of the old Kung Fu TV show. The story that wraps up the second volume of the comic book series touches on all of the characters the Lone Ranger and Tonto have helped throughout the course of this arc, plus provides what might happen to up through the 1920s.
UP NEXT: Volume three.
Before I get to volume three, here are three series I won't be covering in this thread (at least not at this time).
VINDICATED:
The Lone Ranger and Tonto are called to the town of Red Mesa to help capture a vicious gang of thieves. However, things are not what they seem as the masked man and his faithful companion find themselves entangled in a mystery and surrounded by killers. Meanwhile, a woman named Fiona Doyle has captured the Lone Ranger's heart... but his feelings might place him and Tonto at greater risk!
SNAKE OF IRON:
The Lone Ranger and Tonto ride once again in this classic western tale set against the cruel backdrop of winter on the badlands of North Texas. Acting alone, the Ranger takes it upon himself to stand in the way of Kiowa war parties who have broken from their reservation in Oklahoma. If the renegades make it far enough into Texas and meet up with their Comanche brothers then the entire Lone Star State will become a battlefield. The masked rider of the plains and Silver follow the stories of a mythical spirit horse, an animal of legend that's been sighted by the tribes and incited them to ride the warpath. The Ranger believes that this spirit horse is real and is determined to find it to bring peace to the land once again!
THE DEATH OF ZORRO:
The legendary masked crime-fighter, Zorro, now in his sixties, has hung up his cape and sword. Living on a peaceful ranch in the new state of California, Don Diego tends to his cattle, breaks horses, and enjoys the company of his wife. When a renegade band of Confederate bushwhackers attack a nearby Indian settlement, though, Don Diego cannot Just stand by and let innocents be slaughtered. Zorro heads back into action again... for the last time! Guest starring another legendary masked lawman - The Lone Ranger!
NEXT: Volume three (This time for sure.)
THE LONE RANGER (v3) - - "The Devil's Rope"
"Volume 3" is nothing more than another five-issue limited series. If I'd've known that, I might've given it a pass; if I'd've known more about it, I definitely would have. Whereas most of the comics I have covered so far (I don't know about the three limited series from yesterday) are set circa 1870, "The Devil's Rope" is set in 1887. It is written by Mark Russell and draw by someone who goes by the name of "Bob Q". The covers are by John Cassiday, with issue one variants by Mike Allred and Francesco Frankavilla. Bob Q's art reminds me quite a bit of Humberto Ramos's style and is not particularly suited to the subject matter. I don't recall specifically ever being disappointed by a Mark Russell series, but this may be the first. For one thing, the characterization for both the Lone Ranger and Tonto is way off. For another, Tonto's backstory completely contradicts what has been established in previous Dynamite series.
As the story opens, the Lone Ranger is travelling solo; he and Tonto have parted ways some time before. But the Ranger calls on Tonto for help and Tonto agrees. For what it's worth, I think the story (about the controversy surrounding barbed wire between the free-ranging cowboy in the new world of fenced ranches and telephone lines) is well-researched, as far as my limited knowledge of the subject is concerned. On the other hand, one of the characters is a cannibal bounty hunter. I will never read this series again. I do particularly like the cover of the last issue, however.
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